It took a little longer than I thought, but after two weeks, Mom finally relented to letting Dad teach me how to use a sword and bow. Practically speaking, they were very light-weight versions that were barely fit for hunting small game, or, in the case of the sword, slightly sharp firewood. I was only three after all. I had plenty of time to grow and get used to the motions.

On the first day of training, I followed Dad from the house and down the street towards the wall. The wall was about twenty feet tall, built of earth and stone. It was thick enough for two men to pass comfortably at the top. Between the last of the houses and the wall was an open area primarily designated for agriculture. The guards' training areas were also located in that outer ring.

Dad brought me to the one where he went to for training at work. It was about a mile and a half from the house. A bit of a walk to be sure, but my END made it not too bad. The training area had an area for magic combat, an area for ranged combat, and an area for close-quarters combat. Dad brought me to the ranged combat area first.

"Kiddo," Dad said, handing me a bow, "this is a training bow that we give to kids your brother's age. You shouldn't have any issues using it."

I took the bow from him. It was a compact and light recurve bow. I tested the string and he was right, it wouldn't be too difficult to use.

"You have the strength for something bigger, but you're too small to use it still."

Curse my three-year-old body! Such a tease!

"Walk up to the line that's marked over there in front of the targets."

I obliged. The line was about 10 yards from the targets. Dad came up behind me and put down a quiver of training arrows. He went over the basics of nocking the arrows and how to shoot. I'd done a little bit of archery in my past life, but nothing more than a semester of gym class or an occasional day camp activity.

"I want you to shoot like I showed you. It's not important that you hit the target yet. just get the technique down first and worry about accuracy later."

I knew he was right about getting the basics down right, but I still wanted to at least try to hit the target. With an arrow already nocked, I pulled the bowstring back to my cheek and let the arrow fly. The arrow glanced off of the stand that the target was sitting on.

"Not bad. Keep your elbow up and try again."

The section of the range we were in was mostly free of people. The more advanced areas were where all of the guards trained, and the beginner areas were for the students to practice in the afternoons. Retrieving the arrows after each quiver was emptied was easier and gave more time to practice than if we'd come after lunch. I spent the majority of the morning shooting over and over again until I was sore in places I didn't know could be sore. I was beginning to hit the target more often than not, so there was some improvement at least.

"Good work today. Let's head home. You can help your mother around the house. Tomorrow, we'll do a bit of sword fighting. We'll alternate between the two until you get the first level of each of the skills."

"Ok. Thanks, Dad."

When we arrived home, lunch was ready and waiting for us. As was customary, most of the meal was made with monster products. It would have otherwise been impossible to both feed and defend a town this small completely without getting food from outside. There were some internal fields to provide things like wheat for bread and most families grew vegetables to supplement what the town produced. it was an ingenious system, really. It allowed the town to maximize the resources it had access to while still being safe enough.

The next day, we headed out to the guards' training fields again. The close combat training area didn't have the same demarcation between trainees and guards, so there were a lot more people around sparring. The sword for training was a carved shortsword made from a type of wood that I couldn't recognize. it was tough enough to withstand blows but also light enough to be handled by a youngster.

"Harry!" one of the guards called out as we entered the sparring area. "Who is that kid with you today?"

"Hey, George! This is my son James. He was interested in learning the basics of the sword and the bow."

"How old is he? He looks too young to be able to handle that sort of thing."

"He's three, but he's also stronger than his brother, Max. You've met Max, right?"

"Yeah. He's joining the guards in a month to start his training. Well, kid, show me what you've got!"

"Yessir." I put the sword in front of me and got into a stance I thought would at least be somewhat appropriate.

"Not bad for a beginner. I've seen worse. Well, Harry, if you can get that kid to understand the basics, he's welcome to join the afternoon session. It'll mess with the trainees and he can get some experience sparring against folks more in his range."

"I'll have to make sure Jenniffer is ok with that first, but thanks for the offer!"

"Alright. I'll see you later, Harry. Nice to meet you, kid."

George walked away, leaving the two of us to go over the basics like stances and swings. The offer to come in the afternoon was good and all, but it would probably be a couple of months before I was good enough at the basics to even consider something like that. Proper technique was important! Like how button-mashing was ok at the beginning, someone who knew how to attack and defend correctly would win more often.

Dad would walk me through the steps of the basic strikes and blocks slowly at first and then picking up the pace as I got more used to it.

"Kiddo, you need to stop trying to attack my sword and attack me. The sword is not your enemy, I am. Step into it."

I followed his suggestion, and it really did make a difference.

The morning went much the same as the practice with the bow yesterday... I swung the sword until my arm wanted to fall off and practiced stances 'till my legs were stiff.

It took three weeks before I saw the messages I wanted to see.

Milestone: Learned to fight with a bow!

STR + 1, FIN + 1

Milestone: Learned to fight with a sword!

STR + 1, FIN + 1, AGI + 1

END + 1

This made my status look like this.

Name: James McPherson Level: 1 Class: None

HP: 24/24

MP: 40/40

SP: 28/28

Attributes: AGI: 8 CHA: 7 CON: 7 END: 9 FIN: 11 INT: 13 STR: 15 WIS: 15 Affinities: Black: 10% Blue: 10% Green: 10% Orange: 10% Red: 10% Violet: 10% White: 10% Yellow: 10% Skills: Reading Lv4 Language Lv2 Archery Lv1 Swordfighting Lv1